Disney To Rival Netflix And Amazon With Announcement Of Streaming Service

Family favourite Disney is set to pull its titles from streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon, as it prepares to launch its own service from 2019.

Disney's new service will feature family-friendly titles such as Frozen and its upcoming sequel, the Toy Story films and other classics.

However, Disney has not yet said whether or not it will include Marvel and Lucasfilm movies, such as The Avengers, Iron Man, Star Wars and Indiana Jones, in its new streaming venture. The two companies became Disney subsidiaries in 2009 and 2012, respectively.

Credit: Disney

Entertainment giant Disney has also been identified as a possible buyer of Netflix, with which it secured a streaming deal back in 2012.

Disney's streaming service will be built using technology from BAMTech, the MLB-founded video streaming platform. Disney has now made an investment of $1.58 billion (£1.2bn) in the company, giving it a 75 percent stake in the company.

"This acquisition and the launch of our direct-to-consumer services mark an entirely new growth strategy for the company, one that takes advantage of the incredible opportunity that changing technology provides us to leverage the strength of our great brands," Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement accompanying the announcements.

Disney CEO Bob Iger. Credit: PA

The new service will initially be geared very much towards family viewing, with productions from Pixar, the Disney Channel and Disney Junior.

With the new move, Disney intends to become the "exclusive home in the US for subscription video-on-demand viewing of the newest live action and animated movies from Disney and Pixar beginning with the 2019 theatrical slate".

"The media landscape is increasingly defined by direct relationships between content creators and consumers," said Iger.

Credit: PA

"No one is better positioned to lead the industry into this dynamic new era, and we're accelerating our strategy to be at the forefront of this transformation," he continued.

"This is a declaration of independence by Disney, and now you have a direct competition between these two behemoth players," said Peter Csathy, founder of the advisory firm Creatv Media. "Netflix has a huge head start, but Disney thinks it can win. And Disney can feature the most valuable content library in the world."

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.